Document text
Principal Investigator: Brian O'Shea
Organization: RAGIN' CAJUN FACILITIES, INC.
Fiscal Year: 2023
Award: $3,999,070
Funding agency: NIH Office of the Director
University of Louisiana at Lafayette C06
Expansion of Macaque Breeding capacity at the New Iberia Research Center
Abstract:
As part of its expansion of its HIV/AIDS research program, the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) at the
University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette) proposes to add macaque breeding capacity by the
construction of 2 multi-run housing buildings complete with roofing, electricity, water, heating and air circulation
for an added capacity of 1600 macaque breeders + offsprings via the Ragin Cajun Facilities, Inc. Foundation.
NIRC has experienced exponential growth in the past 6 years, playing a critical role in the SARS-CoV2 pandemic
while maintaining a vigorous HIV research program in support of collaborators whose laboratories were shut
down. As part of this growth, NIRC has expanded its nonhuman primate (NHP) breeding and cohorts, from 6,400
to >10,000 NHPs, now the largest primate center in the US. The recent suspension of primate export from China
and the limitations on NHP transport in cargo, have created an acute and monumental shortage of research
NHPs, markedly amplified by their heavy use to test COVID vaccines and therapies. This has doubled and tripled
animal acquisition costs, which will largely limit primate based research for academic investigators for the next
decade and beyond. In efforts to palliate this gap in supply, NIRC has, and continues to expand NHP breeding
and research housing, in addition to ongoing renovation of laboratory space and the construction of a BSL-3
facility regrouping rodents, NHPs and labs. The ongoing increase in breeder and research space has been the
conversion of space originally used for chimpanzees into monkey social and research (quad cages) housing,
and the construction of 2 new multi-run housing buildings supported by a C06 award obtained in 2021 (projected
completion and occupancy date in late 2023). NIRC currently has ~1400 2-4 year old rhesus macaques future
breeders slated to occupy this space, and given an annual live birth rate of >1000 rhesus macaques, NIRC has
to expand such housing option further, via the construction of 2 additional identical units via this proposal. Of
note, there will be space for 3 more such units for future expansion in the same area. This type of building has
been specifically designed and extensively tested for macaque housing/breeding at a facility in Texas, attesting
to the adequacy, ease of maintenance and longevity of such construction in southern climates. Each building
unit will comprise 20 indoor/outdoor runs able to accommodate up to 20 breeder animals each for a total capacity
of ~800 breeders and their offsprings. This expansion is critical to accommodate the rapidly increasing research
programs at NIRC as well as the support of NIAID VRC and SVEU HIV/AIDS focused programs. NIRC supports
many both onsite and collaborative programs on lentiviral pathogenesis supported by state of the art imaging
capabilities including a whole body to signal cell analysis approach, therapeutic approaches aimed at curing HIV,
and an extensive program to prevent mucosal viral acquisition via protective experimental vaccines, vaginal and
colorectal microbicides. Many of these programs are experiencing delays due to NHP and space shortages,
which are holding back the scientific expansion of NIRC and the support of HIV/AIDS NIH funded research.
Terms: <4 year old><4 years of age><AIDS Virus><AIDS/HIV><Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Virus><Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Virus><Acute><Air><Animals><Area><Award><BSL-3 facility><BSL3 facility><Back><Birth Rate><Breeding><COVID crisis><COVID epidemic><COVID pandemic><COVID test><COVID tests><COVID-19 crisis><COVID-19 epidemic><COVID-19 global health crisis><COVID-19 global pandemic><COVID-19 health crisis><COVID-19 pandemic><COVID-19 public health crisis><COVID19 crisis><COVID19 epidemic><COVID19 global health crisis><COVID19 global pandemic><COVID19 health crisis><COVID19 pandemic><COVID19 public health crisis><Cell Communication and Signaling><Cell Signaling><Chimp><Chimpanzee><China><Circulation><Climate><Colon or Rectum><Colorectal><Dorsum><Electricity><Foundations><Funding><Future><Generalized Growth><Grouping><Growth><HIV><HIV/AIDS><Heating><Housing><Human Immunodeficiency Viruses><Hydrogen Oxide><Intracellular Communication and Signaling><Investigators><LAV-HTLV-III><Laboratories><Length of Life><Live Birth><Longevity><Louisiana><Lymphadenopathy-Associated Virus><M mulatta><M. mulatta><Macaca><Macaca mulatta><Macaque><Mainland China><Maintenance><Meteorological Climate><Monkeys><Mucosa><Mucosal Tissue><Mucous Membrane><NIAID><NIH><National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease><National Institutes of Health><Pan Genus><Pan Species><Pathogenesis><Play><Primates><Primates Mammals><Research><Research Personnel><Researchers><Rhesus Macaque><Rhesus Monkey><Rodent><Rodentia><Rodents Mammals><Role><Running><SARS-CoV-2 epidemic><SARS-CoV-2 global health crisis><SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic><SARS-CoV-2 pandemic><SARS-CoV2 epidemic><SARS-CoV2 pandemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 epidemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 pandemic><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 epidemic><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 pandemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 epidemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic><Signal Transduction><Signal Transduction Systems><Signaling><Site><Suspension substance><Suspensions><Testing><Texas><Therapeutic><Tissue Growth><United States National Institutes of Health><Universities><Vaccines><Vagina><Vaginal><Viral><Virus-HIV><Water><age 4 years><biological signal transduction><biosafety level 3 facility><climatic><cohort><colo-rectal><colorectum><corona virus disease 2019 epidemic><corona virus disease 2019 pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic><coronavirus disease 2019 global health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 public health crisis><coronavirus disease crisis><coronavirus disease epidemic><coronavirus disease pandemic><coronavirus disease test><coronavirus disease tests><coronavirus disease-19 global pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 pandemic><coronavirus test><coronavirus tests><cost><design><designing><experience><four year old><four years of age><groupings><imaging capabilities><life span><lifespan><microbicidal><microbicide><non-human primate><nonhuman primate><offspring><ontogeny><palliate><prevent><preventing><programs><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global health crisis><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global pandemic><social><social role><test for COVID>